Fla. town bracing for decision on Trayvon Martin

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SANFORD, Fla. — Tensions are rising in Sanford as a special prosecutor nears a decision on whether to charge George Zimmerman with killing Trayvon Martin.

Someone shot up an unoccupied police car Monday night as it sat outside the neighborhood where Martin was killed.

And a demonstration by college students closed the town’s police station earlier in the day.

Some residents Tuesday said they worry there will be violence if prosecutor Angela Corey accepts Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense and decides not to charge the neighborhood watch captain with a crime. Corey has not said when she will announce her decision, but many in town believe it will be soon.

The case took a bizarre turn Tuesday as Zimmerman’s attorneys stood outside the courthouse and announced they were dropping him as their client for ignoring their advice in contacting the prosecutor. But they said they still believe his claim of self-defense.

While tensions are high, some think this city of about 53,000 — around 57 percent white and 30 percent black — will come through the crisis without violence, as it did during similar uproars.